Tuesday, July 31, 2012

It's like a gloomy, rain-drenched evening out there in UFO land. The latest release of British government UFO files, while sprinkled with pages of curiosity, still doesn't answer the question, where's the good stuff? Meanwhile, the legend of former CIA agent "Chase" Brandon remains on the run, as researchers wonder why a box of alleged Roswell artifacts secretly stored by the government would actually be labeled as "Roswell," and not something more covert (like maybe "Used Kitty Litter," for example?). Top that off with two chief participants in National Geographic TV's "Chasing UFOs" publicly slamming their own series for shortcomings aplenty, and there you have it -- the status quo.

So, minus significant UFO disclosure today, I'm jumping that ship to explore the feminine side. After all, we've already explored men in recent weeks, and that wasn't a pretty sight at all, what with university pedophilia, violent extremist male Islam, college sports and Obama administration antics bouncing around.

First, what happened to pilot Amelia Earhart? The newest search for her plane turned up nothing. Seems reasonable to assume that if a prominent and instantly revealed UFO encounter had been involved with her disappearance (and this was an era before "flying saucers" became common), as it did Valentich, the media would never have mentioned her name again. Being a goner under unknown circumstances endears one's reputation to the public's romantic historical perspective, while the instantaneous fade of human and machine simultaneously in the presence of a possibly unknown craft assures a very quick media circus with prompt collapse of the frenzied circus tent, as more comfortable and accountable stories beckon one and all away.

Women's IQ scores rate higher than men's, according to a new study released a few days ago. This wasn't really surprising, more of an affirmation of previous studies, but I've often said it myself: Men can be really, really stupid. I should know, I'm a man. Women are taking over, anyway -- they'll have to, because according to science the Y chromosome is going away, little by little. Female humans shouldn't rejoice too quickly, however, because that means someday women with marriage on their minds, but sans men, will have to wed dogs, roaches or swine or something (and I'm sure a lot of women would insist they are currently married to such critters).

One woman obviously in possession of a high IQ is James Holmes' psychiatrist, whom, at least so far, has had the brains not to answer knocks at her home door when members of the press come-a-calling. We're betting that she won't add Holmes' name to her resume under "Professional Achievements," either. Though we've yet no clue as to the talented homicidal artistry reflective in Holmes' stick figures, allegedly adorning that mystery notebook, we're more curious about the prescription medications her patient may have been taking chronically. Holmes' legal counsel is likely to exhibit far more curiosity toward any legally prescribed psychotropic meds, as "The Joker" attempts to laugh off a death penalty. In any event, as far as Holmes' psychiatric counseling goes, refunds for services rendered just might be in order.

And now on to today's visuals. . .

If you were around in 1968, you may have been exposed to the S.C.U.M. Manifesto by angry revolution-minded Valerie Solanas, but if not, suffice it to say she didn't have much use for men. In fact, she actually shot pop artist Andy Warhol (he survived), to some an act of attempted murder and to others merely artistic expression. Take a look at her countenance -- seriously, would you, as a guy, throw her a butcher knife during a heated argument and suggest, "Go ahead and cut my heart out, I dare you!"? Maybe the Society for Cutting Up Men will come back, but some suspect it never went away.

On occasion I would seek out old paperback books with interesting covers. Jailbait, today's other entry, was originally a hardcover published in 1949 and reprinted as a paperback in 1951. Touted as a true case study of "teenage sin," this Popular Library cover reflected a familiar theme for the times of a young woman shamed or guilt-ridden, collapsing in tears, darned nearly out of her mind -- and the despair was almost always caused by men. In this case, the young woman has sunk so low that her life has apparently become synonymous with a garbage can!

The teaser blurb on the back of Jailbait, however, like a remnant from an archaeological dig, shows us that even 60-some years later, young girls and women encounter horrors on the street and in relationships of all manner which haven't changed appreciably. In fact, those horrors are significantly worse now.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

ABC-TV's news reporter Brian Ross is not Satan. I say that because most of his investigative reporting appears solid. And George Stephanopoulos. . .is George.
Um, anyway, they really screwed up beyond reason last week when the duo, in quick-like-a-bunny response to shootings at the theater in Aurora, CO, jumped on the Internet like any high school journo student would and searched the name James Holmes -- and apparently, enthusiastically, inquired whether any similarly-named person happened to be a Tea Party member. For, hmm, some reason. Bias, perhaps?

Success! Ross and Stephanopoulos eagerly reported that the Tea Party did indeed have a member with the same name, and they, oh, SO openly speculated whether this person might be the Colorado mass murderer.

Trouble is, they had the wrong guy, and even though an insignificant on-air apology sauntered forth from these ABC-TV media stars the same morning, consequential damage blossomed. The Breitbart news agency had jumped on this foolishness right away and discovered the Tea Party Holmes was an older gentleman with no connection whatsoever to Holmes the alleged killer, and as the day progressed we heard that harassment, including death threats, directed toward the elder Holmes necessitated disconnecting his phone and he basically went into hiding from the nation's other crazies. This man may well end up with a little ABC/Disney cash over this matter. And should. Where were the editors? The fact-checkers? The caution?

One wonders, had the elder Holmes lost his life at the hands of a deranged ABC-TV viewer who took the initial speculation to heart -- would Mr. Ross and Mr. Stephanopoulos have been held accountable as co-conspirators?

The ABC-TV incident is unconscionable. It's juvenile journalism at best, politically agenda-driven and dangerous at worst. Shame on ABC-TV. I hardly thought these folks could sink lower than they do when inflicting shoddy UFO documentaries on its viewing audience. But then. . .

But then I thought, there seems something remotely familiar about the Brian & George incident, like a car accident we've driven by previously, over and over again. Seconds later, I saw the light: Brian and George had simply indulged in the same practice that journalists in all aspects of the mainstream media generally summon when UFOs are reported: They took a well-trampled path of least resistance. In this case, that worn path led to the media-despised Tea Party, an easy but undeserving target, probably held in media contempt particularly because its members dismiss Republican and Democrat party establishment dogma. TV news network dogma.

Similarly, UFO reports also tend to lead reporters down the shortcut rabbit hole, and that road usually requires, not a journey through the evidence, but instead a fast-track encounter with the nearest skeptical astronomer or local college science professor equipped to brand all UFO stories with negative comments, minus any personal involvement with any investigations whatsoever. A NAME is equal to the event, and because there's an assumption that UFOs are a myth, that's the direction of choice for skeptical reporters and their editors. Forget the facts -- it's the credentials or star-power, stupid. Locate a voice of authority and do it quickly, the truth can wait -- or more likely, truth will disappear forever, because nobody will care after the learned pronouncement, the skeptical or debunking verdict.

Ross and Stephanopoulos took the same approach, whether for ratings, immediacy, or for other reasons. One James Holmes, among maybe dozens of guys named James Holmes in Colorado, happened to be a (gasp!) Tea Party member, so wouldn't it just be marvelous for News at Eleven (and perhaps for a certain political persuasion) to spotlight the person immediately, and hope and pray later that he's The One? What's in a name? Everything, even if it's the wrong name.

Following the theater shootings, other media members performed a function not too far off from this -- as they galloped to the nearest psychologists to ask, "Why'd he do it?" All weekend I listened to these guys ad nauseam, offering their pro-fesh-un-al explanations. But who cares? What the journalists really wanted was to interview the shooter, but he was rather indisposed and unavailable. So instead they go to people with medical degrees who automatically become media psychics. A name and credentials will do whenever you can't access the truth before show time.

I suppose lesser media stars than Brian and George would be on the unemployment line by now, but one thing's for sure: When you perpetrate this kind of nonsense and backyard gossip on a TV audience as representatives of a news organization , you cheapen the operation and help drive TV network news further into irrelevancy and, demonstrably, lower ratings. Internet news providers, whose very existence TV news divisions traditionally once discounted, should be eternally grateful. TV sponsors, on the other hand, should
not.

YOU KNOW, ROBERT, BASICALLY ALL PEOPLE LOVE PEACE, AND IF WE COULD JUST CLAMP DOWN ON THIS GUN ISSUE. . .Oh, what a load of crap. Look at us! We destroy everything in our path -- ourselves, animals, natural beauty and precious resources. Who are we? We are landfills piled high with soiled diapers, graveyards littered with faded memories, oceans infused with countless poisons, and eternally we are chaos in the making. That's what we are, the sum total. Yeah, the love aspect is nice, but in human history even the concept of love is a fairly recent addition.

Hey, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- you want more gun control? Excellent! Start by disarming all your bodyguards and have 'em walk you down city streets, holding flowers in their hands, expressing love and kindness to every thug-in-waiting.

We can only imagine the horrors inflicted in the Aurora movie theater. I wonder if victims felt as helpless as the National Guardsmen and Border Patrol agents whose lethal weaponry gets left behind by order of the Obama Administration?

The Virginia Tech massacre -- 32 dead. Columbine's infamous little monsters, Harris and Klebold. The well-armed killers, usually the sole owners of mental pathology which no invented gun laws could repair, are always sure beyond a reasonable doubt of potential victims unaware and minus armaments. Such terror is conducted by people with personal agendas or mental journeys whose wanderings we can only imagine. What do you do? The only reasonable option is to make it easier for law-abiding citizens to arm themselves and carry protection on the streets. And in the theaters. Yes, sad and daring, but necessary. The police cannot be everywhere. Unfortunately, folks with political agendas, yet devoid of skeletal structures under their skin, are about to loudly distort our right to personal protection as they always do, unwilling simply to place the blame where it belongs -- on crazy. What would they do, hire thousands of social workers to knock on doors and inspect homes and apartments once a week?

"The Joker" who conducted mayhem in Colorado -- say, wasn't he a Ph.D. candidate? Apparently, higher education kills, and as a clear danger to society I think serious consideration should be given to banning education. Guns don't kill people, learning kills people.

Watch out. As we heard while the Obama Administration began wrapping its clutches around the government -- never let a (good?) crisis go to waste.

Which reminds me. . .isn't Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her boss stubbornly intent upon signing on with some United Nations gun resolution in a few days, something that our U.S. Senate would actually have to vote down in order to once again (sigh. . .) keep the damned corrupt U.N. thugs out of our business? I know it's ever so trite to bring up the Second Amendment anymore, but. . .

THANK YOU REP. MICHELE BACHMANN -- AND APOLOGIZE FOR NOTHING: Her concerns regarding radical Islam, its influence in the United States and its avowed intention to destroy both Israel and convert the West via the Muslim Brotherhood's methodical calculations are valid, disturbing and urgent. Those who take the time to listen to Muslims who escape Sharia law and realize its dangers here at home realize the importance of your questions, and I condemn Senator McCain, Speaker Boehner and other public officials who can't or won't publicly confirm the dark Islamic dangers facing this country. ViolentIslamic extremism are three magic words to remember because they equal murder, the systematic destruction of souls and lives to reach an agenda which has no room for the U.S. Constitution or other non-Islamic forms of government. Remember, Muslim prayer rugs and extremist literature have already been found at the southern border, so there's no doubt about who enters the country with the usual gangs of, in the company of and with the assistance of illegal/criminal immigrants. If these words sound like a rant from a crank -- how come the U.S. military, FBI, CIA and other vital agencies are reported to be stripping all references to radical Islam from training sessions and handbooks, as if it doesn't even exist? Probably for the same reason that our Prez invites Muslim Brotherhood members into the White House and enlists their assistance. Unindicted co-conspirators named by our own Feds occupy the Muslim Brotherhood, we are told, and authorities on the subject often mention the organization C.A.I.R., one of many Islamic proponent organizations in the U.S. whose leaders exert tremendous political influence (what kind?).

Beware the Washington morons who continue to labor under the dangerous illusion that we can get along with everybody, even those who would cut our throats, whether the means be political action, legislative changes, agenda-ridden kindness or the knife itself, because we are (I proudly submit) the infidels.

PENN STATE GOES DOWN: I don't care about college or professional sports. If watching people spit, fart, grab their crotches, scratch their butts and sneer on some field turns you on, well, good for you. I know athletics are important for the young because it teaches them many things, especially (we hope) to be tough, because the world awaiting them is filled with pain and lies to be fought incessantly. As for the professional sports folks and sometimes just plain thugs out there, acting like national heroes and earning big money and drawing in spectators who pay outrageously high prices to see them in action -- I don't get it. So who cares what I think?

But, okeeeeee -- so Joe Paterno's statue was toppled faster than Saddam's and the biggies in sports jurisdiction have ruled. The legal multi-million dollar Penn State shakedown proceeds ("for the children," which translates to "for the child abuse cottage industry") and innocent members of the collegiate sports dynasty must suffer along with everybody else because this is America and that's what we do, damn it, we punish everybody. Now, let's do this: Gather up all those psychologists still waiting to be consulted for their opinions about the "Dark Knight massacre" and ask them this question: Aren't sexual incidents involving adults and children so prevalent throughout recorded history that one would almost have to consider this as normal behavior?

There is risk in the world and everybody cannot be made safe and wrapped in sterile protective fabric -- because that's exactly the kind of stagnant pool of existence we end up with. Yes, there are risks, danger, injuries and death. When was there not?

Yes, there are monsters and monstrous events in the world, and I think we can say with certainty right now that the same pain is being perpetrated on young boys in institutions and numerous other venues all across the country, and will continue to be long after the current outrage blows over into some other issue of social and news-at-eleven concern. What bothers me is, why does society suddenly smack itself on the head (like in those TV commercials for V-8) and ask, why is this happening?! Truth be told, it's always been there, right in front of everybody. There's nothing new to see here. I do worry about the growth of the child abuse cottage industry because, like other bureaucracies, things start out innocently enough, dedicated to all the necessary maneuvers, but then a giant grows and rights are suppressed or terminated that have little to do with the cottage industry itself, which ends up employing tons of do-gooders who ultimately become our own worst enemy.

We've explored this issue a little in the past, but from everything I've read over the years, and in regard especially to other countries (lowering the age of consent, for example), one is led to a very uncomfortable and intriguing conclusion. Can human sexual behavior not appear normal and horrible at the same time? Aside from obvious instances of outright rape, mutually beneficial man/boy relationships apparently exist, and our society, in particular, never confronts this issue, preferring instead to address the absurd and damaging encounters. I'm drawing from memory because I've no access to the Internet as I write this, but I recall a book entitled The Man Without a Face, later made into a movie starring Mel Gibson, and the book itself supposedly includes an intimate man/boy relationship, integral to the story -- though by the time the movie script emerged and production concluded, pretty much all references to that relationship were long gone, as we might expect in our fantasy society, bent upon eternally scrubbing and converting facts into preferences of convenience.

The theme is "out there" in hushed conversation, nobody publicly wants to address that side of the coin -- and, again, may I drive home the fact that there's nothing new to see here?

Unfortunately, under our increasingly "nanny" style government, some prefer and enforce neat little explanations about "predatory" behavior. I know I'm entering some very dangerous waters here, but as I get older I become increasingly frustrated with a society which wears blinders of choice and reflexive politics of opportunity, and, by George, you'll go to jail, prison or receive banishment to some island of perverts if you drift from the accepted or contrived harmonic frequency. I don't know that you can go to hell anymore, because I suspect that hell is all filled up with priests by now.

But trust me, we are all predators, and neither sex nor gun violence even begin to address that issue. Let's see, hmm, have I left anything unsaid today? Oh, right -- have a nice day.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

What can we do, if not watch the skies for Venusian spaceship heroes or rescue fleets from Jupiter?

According to the usual mainstream media suspects a few days ago, a renewed wealth of scientists appear convinced that climate change is extreme and man-made, and, hoo-boy, are they making noise about it. Call me dense or call me just plain wretched, but I'm still inclined to wonder why the MSM doesn't also include a truckload of signatures from international science folk who openly dismiss the exuberance of their colleagues. Then there's this new thing, some daring scientist in Finland who looks at old tree growth and inner rings and states categorically that the planet has been cooling, not warming, over the decades.

But, hey, I ain't no prude, 'cause I'm willing to admit (and often have) that I do believe climate change occurs on the planet -- just as it always has, sometimes with mild consequences and sometimes with colossally disastrous results. We needn't throw human activity into the mix as a major component, but if one wants to hone calculations and engage in nevertheless uncertain science, I'll bite. And to everybody running around like heads with their chickens cut off (the great thing about having a blog is the opportunity to twist reality) I reiterate -- I said from the outset that if evidence to the contrary popped up and settled the argument in favor of those who believe man's activities are specifically causing significant and measurable global damage, I'm your convert.

But not quite yet. Droughts are nothing new and the U.S. alone has endured several, spaced decades apart.

Maybe what we really need at this critical time is for the contactees to be right so that somebody can save us from the weather. George Adamski, Truman Bethurum, Buck Nelson. Howard Menger. . .and so many others who wove extravagant and wild tales in the fifties. Exotic trips to and from other planets, meetings with gorgeous extraterrestrials. Higher forms of life possessing the brains to dig us out of this mess on Earth.

Where are they all, now that we need them?

In his book, Aboard a Flying Saucer (1954), Truman Bethurum writes of his meetings with extraterrestrials from the planet Clarion, and during his ninth visit aboard the Clarions' ship he converses with its captain, Aura Rhanes, sort of a female Captain Kirk: "We are visiting regularly on your earth, and enjoy it very much. . .We enjoy your laughing mirth," confesses Aura Rhanes. Seems that on Clarion folks love a good joke, and nothing says let's-go-planet-hopping better than the universal quest for good humor. But did Aura Rhanes, somewhere along the galactic pipeline, use her superior intellect to see Earth's troubled future and make plans to save us from ourselves? Did Truman Bethurum beg the Clarions to stick around in case the weather and world affairs became dicey? No, instead he selfishly chose self-satisfaction:

". . .when Captain Aura Rhanes comes again. . .I hope it will be to take my friends and me for that long promised visit through space to her planet. I shall try to convince her also that she ought to take my wife."

Wha. . .? Wait a sec. Sounds like a Henny Youngman joke here. Was this merely about Truman sending his wife into outer space and abandoning her on the planet Clarion? Didn't he impress upon the Clarions the need to solve global warming of the future here on Earth?

Trouble's main thrust this week, however, among perky enviro folk involves abundant CO2 filling the oceans and the anticipation of world coastal areas submerged beyond hope in the future.

And OF COURSE the first move is to blame the USA for absolutely everything and, by George, we'd better pay up big time, while the rest of the world licks its wounds with astringents and antiseptics made of American dollars. Yet. . .

May I suggest China and India as the newest mega-users of fossil fuels -- and China, particularly, which continues on a rampage to build one or two new coal-fired energy plants every week?

The real and only true cure, though, is to reduce human population by billions. Billions. How do you do that? Who will cooperate? Who will care to cooperate? Nobody. No, instead international medical research discovers methods to make us live longer as human numbers grow even more menacing. The more the merrier -- or the more ravenous and cockroach-like we become? Nobody gets out alive, but nobody gets out until some institute or government agency says so. And we also harbor a very annoying "if we could save just one" mentality in our legislatures, leading to less risk, excessive boredom and more button-up control in our lives.

Flying saucer fleets. . .maybe they'll arrive just in time to save us from ourselves. . .tall, blond-haired aliens with human faces. . .cloaked in robes derived from visions of ancient religions of the cosmos. . .

So we pine away, longing for Venusian maidens to fly in and make everything okay, clinging to a very slight chance that all those fancy contactee books and stories from the fifties might turn out to be true. Doesn't new research indicate that women have higher scores on IQ tests than men? Yes, by all means, send in the Venusian maidens. . .

Unless infamous contactee George Adamski's Venusian encounter (ref. the book Flying Saucers HaveLanded, by Desmond Leslie and Adamski) was closer to the truth, as he described his first meeting on Earth with a young (?) man from Venus: "His hair was sandy in color and hung in beautiful waves to his shoulders, glistening more beautifully than any woman's I have ever seen. And I remember a passing thought of how Earth women would enjoy having such beautiful hair as this man had. . .he wore no protection over it and it was being blown by the winds."

Oh, just great! A fashion model from Venus! By the time this guy finishes brushing that hair, Earth will be a smoking ember.

Not only were the well-known and highly publicized fifties contactees full of s***, their alleged human-like extraterrestrial contacts and wild tales were all useless, then and now. If we can't depend upon Clarion or Venus, then who? Looks like we're all gonna die after all.

Monday, July 9, 2012

CBS-TV news reporter Walter Cronkite received ample attention in this blog recently when we revisited the mid-sixties and referenced a CBS UFO "documentary" entitled "UFO: Friend, Foe or Fantasy," an extremely skeptical and one-sided examination of the UFO phenomenon. Cronkite's words reverberated with everything bad about this excruciatingly painful hour. That's why we were surprised in 1976 when the National Enquirer featured a major story trumpeting Cronkite's view that UFOs are real.

The popular tabloid's December 14 issue featured Robin Leach's exclusive tell-all interview, conducted in Cronkite's CBS-TV New York office, during which Cronkite confessed receiving reliable information from government officials and space scientists. In addition to describing cases passed on to him in confidence, the veteran newsman quoted a name familiar to UFO researchers:

"Senator (Barry) Goldwater told me that he believes the earth has been and is currently being visited and is under observation by extraterrestrial intelligence."

Additionally, Cronkite's expressed view that the government covers up UFO information certainly portrayed the sixties TV "documentary" as an absurdly constructed puff piece for the Air Force investigation.

Two weeks later, the National Enquirer (December 28) again stunned America with an interview spotlighting former moon-walking (1972) astronaut and brand new New Mexico Governor Harrison Schmitt. Schmitt told writer John Blosser that he believes life exists on other planets, and that UFOs may have visited the Earth. Soon to assume office as a U.S. senator, Dr. Schmitt made a promise to urge release of UFO information. "If the government has any information on UFOs, it should be released to the public -- barring anything that might affect national security.

"It occurred to me while I was walking on the moon," stated Schmitt, "that perhaps some extraterrestrial being has walked on the earth."

With Schmitt, Cronkite and so many others of prominence coming forth in the years following the pathetic Colorado University UFO project to assure us that UFOs are real and to suggest that information is still being withheld indicates that the smoking gun continues to smoke.

CHASE BRANDON AND THE CIA: It appears that (see especially Robbie Graham's Silver Screen Saucers, Frank Warren's UFO Chronicles and Grant Cameron's Presidential UFO, linked in the margin) portions of the Internet are ablaze with stories about former CIA agent Chase Brandon's revelations regarding Roswell -- that is, that pieces of extraterrestrial spacecraft and alien bodies were indeed acquired by the government in the forties. I generally avoid the Roswell issue because I've no background in investigating it, so my ramblings would be invalid (ha, that never stopped you before, some might say! True. . .). I will, however, make a prediction that seems as comfortable as an old shoe -- that this thing will blow over faster than a forest fire in a downpour. No, it SHOULD NOT disappear, but in a world far more concerned with glitz, glamour and how some athlete can send a ball from point A to point B than Things That Really Might Matter, the essentials tend to slide off into oblivion. I hope whatever remains of real journalism proves me wrong. Could happen, if some TV network among the usual suspects doesn't weave this thing into a throw-away feature piece.

About Me

Unless otherwise noted, all entries are property of Robert Barrow, to be reprinted only with my permission, please. To CONTACT me via e-mail please address your note to me as follows: TYPE rob_wildwinds AND THEN TYPE @yahoo.com